A Police Officer Fired At Least Nine Shots While Responding To A Domestic Dispute at Love Field.

A Dallas Police officer fired at least nine shots outside of Dallas Love Field at around noon today while responding to what a DPD spokesman is calling a “domestic disturbance” at the airport.

Speaking to the media shortly after the shooting, DPD’s Randall Blankenbaker, the assistant chief in charge of the special investigation unit that focuses on all officer-involved shootings, said the as-yet-unidentified officer fired his weapon after being “rushed” by a suspect brandishing a rock.

In the below-posted video of the shooting, the officer can be heard yelling “Get down!” and “Stay down!” at the suspect. Nine clear shots can then be heard.

Video by Bryan Armstrong.
Other, at-this-point-unsubstantiated reports also say the suspect could be heard screaming “Shoot me! Shoot me!” at the officer, although the above video does not immediately support this claim. Police do not believe the suspect was armed with any weapon beyond a rock.

The officer was responding to a disturbance where a black male was allegedly using rocks to damage a car parked outside of the airport terminal. Blankenbaker says he believes the woman who owns the car and the suspect were previously romantically linked.

Already, the officer who fired the shots has been placed on “routine administrative leave per [DPD] policy.” Meanwhile, the suspect has been transported to a local hospital. Blankenbaker believes the suspect was conscious during transport. The condition of the woman who owns the car, Blankenbaker says, is “fine.”

Not surprisingly, the shooting has caused mass chaos at the airport, although it has yet to be closed as of this time. Amidst the confusion during the shooting, however, a number of people ran through the TSA security checkpoint, likely in fear. In turn, the airport will now “re-screen everybody” in the building, according to Blankenbaker. The below video posted to Twitter by Dallas Morning News reporter Claire Ballor shows the long lines that formed outside of security as a result.

Update at 7:01 p.m.: The Dallas Police Department has now released some surveillance footage of the incident.

It shows the suspect — now identified as 28-year-old Shawn Nicholas Diamond — exiting and then damaging a car with rocks and traffic cones. Later, he charges a man who appears to be an armed security officer just as the DPD officer arrives on the scene, and right before any shots were fired.

See it for yourself below (and feel free to skip ahead to the 2:15 mark, really):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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